This invention relates to telecommunications apparatus and, in particular, to network interface units and building entrance protector units having capabilities to facilitate cable dressing.
Network interface units are known in the art and one such unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,440 ('440) of Daoud, and which is herein incorporated by reference. As discussed in the '440 patent, network interface units constitute the demarcation between the customer's equipment and the telephone network. In buildings including multiple subscribers, the network interface unit is typically mounted in a basement and includes an array of customer bridges, each bridge being coupled to an individual subscriber line. The bridges are typically coupled to the phone network through an RJ11 jack and plug so that the customer can plug a working phone into the jack to determine if any problems lie in the customer or network side of the telecommunications system.
Network interface units typically also include a building entrance protector portion which comprises a cable splice chamber and a protector field device for providing surge protection for each customer. Depending on the size or type of the components; e.g., fiber optics, wireless telephone, or coaxial equipment, to be mounted in a network interface unit to accommodate the needs of the customers in the building, the dimensions of the network interface unit may need to be adjusted, requiring various sized housing for different types of components, leading to various sized housings which, in turn, lead to different sized network interface units. A network interface unit that meets their various needs using a single designed modular layer, along with modular building blocks techniques, is disclosed in the cross-referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/143,313 having Attorney Docket Daud 117. The use of multiple modular layers create cabling complications between the multiple modular layers and it is desirable to provide cabling techniques and devices thereof that free the modular layer network interface unit from these cabling complications.